Local Comedian Matt Alano Martin is releasing his debut album tomorrow night on the same stage of his first stand up performance more than five years ago. WFHB News Director Alycin Bektesh met with Matt and asks about building a career on comedy here, for todays community report.

The Comedy Attic is located on the corner of Walnut and 4th street in downtown Bloomington.

On October 23 a joint press release from the office of Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana Commission on Public Records announced a new partnership with Ancestry.com to digitalize 13 million birth, death and marriage certificates in time for the state’s 2016 bicentennial. This will be the largest online collection of Indiana state materials ever digitalized. Online historical records older than 75 years will start to become available to the public in 2015. Birth and death certificates date back to the early 1900s and the state’s marriage records span the years 1958-2005. The State Archive estimates the partnership will save Indiana more than $3.2 million considering the costs to index, scan, and make such materials accessible and will accomplish these tasks years sooner than otherwise possible. For the past two years the Indiana Commission on Public Records has worked with the Indiana State Department of Health Vital Records to achieve this partnership. The Indiana State Department of Health Vital Records will streamline Hoosiers’ access to records with its own copies. Ancestry.com will also provide access to these materials for its members when the project is completed.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will have extended hours on Monday and Tuesday for voters needing photo ids; IU announced today that Dr. Sue Carter will become director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University beginning November first; The Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS) on the IU campus is at the cutting edge of researching how information spreads on social media such as Twitter; For the fifth year in a row, the City of Bloomington is offering residents a chance to win a free home energy assessment, worth several hundred dollars; The Indiana University Office of Sustainability will be holding its Third Annual Food Summit on Friday, November 7th; On October 23 a joint press release from the office of Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana Commission on Public Records announced a new partnership with Ancestry.com to digitalize 13 million birth, death and marriage certificates in time for the state’s 2016 bicentennial; The Monroe County Commissioners invite the public to a special Veterans Day ceremony to be held at the Monroe County Court House on Tuesday, November 11th at 10:00 a.m.

FEATURE
Local Comedian Matt Alano Martin is releasing his debut album tomorrow night on the same stage of his first stand up performance more than five years ago. WFHB News Director Alycin Bektesh met with Matt and asks about building a career on comedy here, for todays community report.

BLOOMINGTON BEWARE!
Let’s keep kids safe! Here’s our regular reminder about what to watch out for — and what you don’t need to worry about — on this annual Fright Night.

The Indiana University Office of Sustainability will be holding its Third Annual Food Summit on Friday, November 7th. The event will be held at the Neal Marshall Black Culture Center Grand Hall from 10 am to 1 pm. Previous summits touched on topics such as defining sustainable food and accessing data. This Summit will focus on student demand and will provide students an opportunity to network with faculty and IU staff about food available on campus and sustainability. Workshops will include unpacking student perceptions, understanding the campus food landscape, and demonstrating new demand for sustainable options. Registration for the event ends on Monday, November 3.

For the fifth year in a row, the City of Bloomington is offering residents a chance to win a free home energy assessment, worth several hundred dollars. For this year’s “Beat the Meter Blitz” program, fifty assessments will be awarded. In the past, only owner-occupied homes were eligible. This year, renters can also benefit from the program as long as they have the landlord’s permission. These free home energy audits will be awarded by lottery. Applications can be made by emailing name, address, phone number and whether or not the property is a rental to energy@bloomington.in.gov or by calling 812-349-3837. The deadline for applying is Monday, November 10th.

The Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS) on the IU campus is at the cutting edge of researching how information spreads on social media such as Twitter. Researchers want to understand how social media influences behavior in areas such as politics, advertising, social revolutions, and how it can be manipulated and abused. The project goes by the name of Truthy.

Ironically, Truthy itself is now the target of media attempts to spread disinformation. In September an article in the Columbia Journalism Review detailed the spread of attacks against Truthy on conservative media. Several television hosts and commentators on the Fox News Channel compared the project to the McCarthy era and Orwell’s 1984. On Monday the Indianapolis Star reported that the Lamar Smith GOP chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee is investigating how IU’s project, which has funding from the National Science Foundation, was able to secure federal funds. Last week an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Ajit Pai implied that the purpose of Truthy was to suppress and limit free speech. It seems that Truthy-bashing has gone viral. But a blog posted by Henry Farrell of the Washington Post on October 22, presented a more balanced view of the project and included an interview with Filippo Menczer and Alessandro Flammini, principle investigators. When asked about why or how the attacks began, Menczer and Flammini preferred not to speculate about the motives, but did add that since the project started several years ago, there has been widespread positive coverage in the national and international press.

A blog titled ‘The Truth About Truthy’ on the CNetS website says “an important goal of the Truthy project is to better understand how social media can be abused.”

IU announced today that Dr. Sue Carter will become director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University beginning November 1st. A distinguished scientist, Carter is known internationally for her research in the field of behavioral neuroendocrinology (neuro-end-oh-crih-nology). Her work advanced understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying love and emotion in human relationships. Currently Carter researches the effects of drugs taken by mothers during childbirth on the infant’s development. According to the today’s press release, Carter plans to continue that research at the Kinsey Institute. Carter will also focus on development of the Kinsey Institute Resource Center. The center will offer access to information on the biology of human relationships to the greater Bloomington community. Carter will be the 7th director of the Kinsey Institute since its founding in 1947.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will have extended hours on Monday and Tuesday for voters needing photo ids. According to a press release from the DMV, all branches will be open Monday, November 3rd, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Tuesday, November 4th, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Indiana BMV provides free, state-issued ID cards for voting purposes to any unlicensed Hoosier who has the proper documentation and is old enough to vote. A list of what documentation is required is posted on the website mybmv.com. Normal hours will resume on Wednesday, November 5th.